Gilles Jacquier

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Jacquier, 43, a journalist for the French public broadcaster
France 2, was among eight people killed by hostile fire while covering a
pro-regime rally in Homs, news
reports said. Jacquier was the third journalist killed in Syria during
the uprising that began 10 months earlier.

The exact circumstances of the attack were unclear. An
Agence France-Presse photographer who witnessed the attack told AFP
that the group was struck by a mortar shell; other news accounts attributed the
attack to rocket-propelled
grenades.

Jacquier's employer confirmed his death in a statement on
its website. France 2 said that Jacquier was with a cameraman, Christophe
Kenck, who was wounded in the attack. Dutch journalist Steven Wassenaar was
also injured, according to news
reports.

International journalists had largely been banned from Syria
since March 2011, with only a few journalists given permission to enter the
country. Jacquier was among a group of 12 journalists invited on a
government-authorized trip to Homs, according to the official Syrian Arab News
Agency, or SANA.

No group immediately took responsibility for the attack.
SANA cited the
Ministry of Information as saying the attack was carried out by an armed
terrorist group. The government routinely blamed killings and unrest on armed
terrorist groups, although it did not provide evidence to support the claims.

Jacquier was a prominent, award-winning correspondent
who had worked in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Tunisia, among other hot
spots. He was the first international journalist killed in Syrian
uprising.